Go find the Candlepower Forums, and have a nose around on there. There's people who've built up to 400mW lasers out of DVD burners, but that isn't exactly hand holdable. But even so, 50mW is fairly powerful and easily hand-holdable, if not more.

And yes, when you're playing with powerful lights, do not stare into beam with remaining eye.

Modern life can be so boring without some element of the bizarre or the fantastical. Hence, we have steampunk.

Last year one of our campmates brought some green ones that were the size of a Sharpie marker. They could hit the mountains around the rim of BRC. Not sure how powerful they were but you definately didn't want to stare into the beam. If you pointed it at you hand your skin would get warm.

Last year one of our campmates brought some green ones that were the size of a Sharpie marker. They could hit the mountains around the rim of BRC. Not sure how powerful they were but you definately didn't want to stare into the beam. If you pointed it at you hand your skin would get warm.

One year (it was 96) I was wandering the playa at night when I saw a bright white light about 100 yards off. Looked like someone was welding. Then I heard an amplified voice say that he was burning some magnesium.
People. Think. Please.

I have a green 35mW "Sharpie" sized laser (Wicked lasers). I got it for pointing out astronomy targets to a small group. One can see the beam in a lighted room. If you get much more powerful than that, you should make sure you have ir goggles handy. You can get these at much higher wattage, but you pay for it. The higher wattage versions will pop balloons, light smokes, and other geeky shit like that. (Fry bacon?)

This is the same company that make the disorienting lasers for the military. They have ir filters built in, but you could still put an eye out with that, kid. Now go ahead and move the sample into the beam, Gordon.

In 2006 there was a camp along the esplanade (3:00?) that had this really bodacious green laser mounted about 15 feet in the air. It looked like if you held your hat up in the beam it would have cut it into two fezzes.
Then again, I was inebriated, so it was probably some body's light stick stuck in my ship hat.

Don't give up DeepSpace. There are far more dangerous things on the playa that are pulled off safely every year.

In 2004, somebody had a green laser set up that was unlike anything Iâ€™ve seen since. This was when the city was set up a little more south on the playa than it is currently. The tallest range of mountains west of the playa were more oriented on the 7:00 oâ€™clock line.

This camp/group/person I'm thinking about was either a part of, or very near Lush over at 3:00. At night this thing would project changing graphics on that mountain range to the west. At one point there was a galaxy spinning on the side of a mountain several miles away and the dust over your head was glittering in a frantic fit of green servo-controlled beams. Quite a good memory for me.

Although I have to add that, like chiefdanfox's recollection, this might fall into the category of, â€œAll the things I saw Iâ€™m not sure I remember, and all the things I remember Iâ€™m not sure I saw.â€